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Illinois Public Media

The Evolution Explosion: How Humans Cause Rapid Environmental Change

Evolution is generally thought of as a slow process, one that takes millions of years. In fact, evolution can occur very quickly, and our own has been dramatically influenced by our efforts to improve our quality of life. Today on Focus we'll talk with biologist Stephen Palumbi about his book The Evolution Explosion. He says that humans have accelerated the evolutionary game, especially with the species closest to us: the food we eat, the pests that share the food, and the diseases that plague us. All of this raising the question: can we survive our own power to reshape the Earth?